My friend Moo is always sending us interesting things in the mail.
This was his latest discovery – Swedish black salt flakes. The huge crystals of sea salt are coloured with vegetable carbon, and shine like black onyx…
I indulged five grams of crushed crystals into yesterday’s batch of sourdough ciabatta – mixing some in with the dough itself and sprinkling the remainder on the top of the loaves prior to baking…
The finished loaves don’t really taste all that different (perhaps marginally a little saltier from the topping), but they are visually appealing…
A little of the black colour remained in the dough, giving a slight marbled effect to the crumb…
As always, it’s enormous fun to play with new ingredients! Thanks Moo!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I have black salt and it’s called volcanic. I only use it for finishing. Did I tell you that I envy your bread making…:p
Thanks Norma..volcanic salt, I wonder if it’s the same? Will look out for it..
I have a friend who was desperately looking for black salt after we had it at The Press Club in Melbourne. It is lovely isn’t it…but then again, a salt by any other colour (name) is still just as salty (sweet)!
Moo found it in Adelaide, but I’ve never seen it here in Sydney. There are some new flavoured salts at the Cheese Shop that I’ve been keen to try…
I’m not certain that they sell black salt, but they serve it with their bread and they have a large deli section – try ‘Signorelli Gastronomia’ in Pyrmont.
Thanks for the heads-up, Michelle! :)
Even visually that black salt is appealing!
Gill, they are pretty, aren’t they? Pete really liked them, so I have another batch rising right now…
Loved the salt on the ciabatta – I have seen it for sale but it was obscenely expensive… :-(
I think it would look great on sea scallops… hummmm….
Now I’m worried what it cost! And it’s very pretty on almost everything!
It’s pricey stuff, but considering the shipping cost from Scandinavia maybe not so much. The place I bought it–an “in” restaurant in Dallas, Texas, gets $4.99 (U.S. of course) per 4.4 oz jar on their mail order page (plus shipping, of course) and has all the flavors. I’ve seen it online at other U.S. vendors for as much as $6.95 but usually they only have the plain and the black. Here’s the link to their store page (the Dallas place) FYI–not sure if they ship overseas. It’s a fabulous restaurant, btw–we had my brother’s wedding rehearsal dinner there.
https://www.kentrathbunstore.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=7&Itemid=6
Arrgh. Correction–it says right on the site that they don’t ship outside the US. And that $4.99 was in the restaurant–clearly they’re marking up for the web sales to $6.99 per. But of course, if you have friends in the US and really want some, they could order then re-ship to you. Oh the hurdles we foodies go through to get what we want! (Smile)
Oh Celia – that salt looks incredible. I’m a fan of unusual salts but have never come across black before.
Choc, the crystal flakes are huge – much larger than the Malden salt pyramids. I think they’ll be great dinner party talking piece.. ;-)
I’ve never even heard of black salt but it looks very interesting.
Claire, it was new to me too! :)
That black salt looks very interesting! Does it taste different? Or behave differently in food?
Mrs Bok, I don’t think it tastes very different, but it is pretty. I tried not to break it up too much when I added it to the loaves, and they were quite stripey in parts, rather than the entire loaf being a bit grey. It behaves a bit like Malden flakes, but a larger version of them.
Wow, how fascinating. I’ve never seen salt in the bread before!
Cheers, Craig
Craig, this was so much fun! I’ve made a second batch since posting this, and in that one I added the black salt (just 3g, so most of it was still the regular sea salt) after the initial kneading, so it didn’t get broken up too much. The new loaves are really mottled! Here’s a pic..
I am really glad you like the salt, it wasn’t too expensive.
In Australia almost every state has a Bottega Rotolo store which has loads of different salts. I purchased the salt at Standom Butchers on Norwood Parade for those in Adelaide.
I still can’t believe you found this at the butchers, Moo. Adelaide must be a serious foodie town! Thanks again for the exciting gift! :)
It’s not natural! I can barely get my poor head around pink salt.
Hehe..I have to admit, it does look like it’s been crystallised out of an oil slick…
Stunning looking salt, Celia and it would look pretty effective in a dish on a dinner table, too.
This is one of the reasons that I try to avoid Bottega Rotolo – far too much temptation.
Amanda, Moo told me he got it at Standom Butchers, if that helps? It was $8 for the 125g container – expensive for salt, but not expensive for a dinner party talking piece! :)
how exotic! Can you taste a difference?I have some pink salt, but don’t know what to use it for, cupcakes with sea salt? I don’t think so, somehow….
Jo, I can’t really taste the difference, but sometimes I think I can.. ;-)
Pink salt, I seem to remember reading somewhere that it was good in Indian food? Pete’s not a fan of the flavour of the Himalayan salts (see, he can taste the difference!), so we don’t keep it anymore.
Wow, that would just be so lovely for garnishing. It’s always exciting to find a new twist on an old favourite!
Becca, I was very excited! :)
Reminds me of Cheese rolled in ash/charcoal mix as( I suspect that is what the vegetable carbon is, charcoal but from which plant?). In spain the ash is always the ash from the prunings of the grape vines plus sundry garden weeds. Their home wood fired “pizza” ovens are stuffed to the gills with this and then ignited for the weekly bake off. No need for a green waste bin there.
The slight ash/charcoal coating on the baked goods is yum. “In my bathroom” I have african black soap, made from a mixture of ashes of bananas and plantains mixed with shea butter. This soap is not visually appealing but has a great effect on skin. The ashes are alkaline and react with the shea butter to make the soap. Now here is a question. If you could not get baking soda to put with honey to make a home made raising agent, how much ashes of grape vine prunings or other clean unpolluted vegetable material would it take to replace the baking soda, and would it taste that bad?
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Frances, you’re right of course, vegetable carbon is a nice word for charcoal.. ;-) I love the ash coated cheeses as well!
Frances, most of the ash-coated goat cheese I’ve had (from France or from here in the California wine country) uses an ash made from, appropriately enough, grape vines. I have no idea if that has any effect on the flavor or is merely a marketing ploy, but that’s what they use.
This sounds like a great ingredient to have on standby, either for kitchen use or to give to a food lover as a gift. Not sure I’ve seen it in the UK but sure going to look for it now.
Helen, it’s made in Sweden, so I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find it in the UK. Here’s their website.. http://www.falksalt.com/index.php/home
OK so now my life is not complete until I get some, have some smoked salt which I use sparingly but black sounds so chic…
Roz, that’s the right word for it! It’s très chic.. ;-)
This is fascinating, Celia, thanks for sharing!
No worries, hope you come across some, Chris! :)
Celia I have recently bought black salt from my friend Lucy who runs a fine food stall in the Central Market here in Adelaide. She also has a blog where she recently wrote on various salts (some or all of which she sells there). Check our her post http://wholeisgreater.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/tis-the-season/
Thanks Sarah!
how very interesting! I like the look of the salt on top of the bread :)
Thanks Tandy! It’s very beautiful crushed over tomato salad as well!
Lucky you and thank you Moo. Beautiful crusty loaf. I must attempt making some bread, its been a while. I’ve never heard of Swedish Black Salt Flakes, they look gorgeous, very pretty.
Anna, it is very pretty – last night it sat in a little bowl on the dinner table, and was quite the talking piece! :)
You are lucky, I am dying of envy here. I think it’s worth scouring the online shops to see if I can find a supplier.
Cindy, I hope you find some – could be worth emailing them to ask if they have a distributor there?
I’ve tried a Greek black salt-I wonder if it tastes very similar! It was quite strong in taste! Almost smokey…
Lorraine, it tasted like Malden salt – not smokey at all really – just very pretty! I have some Flor de Sel olive salt as well, which is astonishingly olivey..
I think there could be a market for Black Salt – is anyone up for the challenge? sounds like we just have to get hold of some vegetable carbon, some beautiful salt & hey presto!
Well done Celia – what a productive weekend you have had.
x
Keri, I reckon there’s an art to it – the crystals are enormous! I don’t know how they get them to grow so large – I know we never had much luck with the kids’ homegrown crystal kits.. ;-)
I wish I had a friend posting treats such as this to me. Black salt on caramel?
This Falk Salt is amazing stuff–and especially the FLAVORED versions. They have everything from a chili flavored one to citron, but my two faves are the “Smoke” flavor (if the weather doesn’t let you bbq, you can sprinkle a pinch or two of this in a pan-seared steak dish instead of your regular salt and get an almost real bbq aspect–good with chicken, too) and especially the Wild Mushroom flavor, which I use to “wake up” chicken broth and make wonderful butter-pan-fried fish. I’m in the U.S. and found these at a restaurant in Dallas named Rathbun’s Blue Plate Diner, so I’m not sure where else they’re distributed. My point is that there’s a lot more too this stuff than the black color of the “black” variation–try them all and you’ll find they’re truly unique.
Thanks Dan! Unfortunately I’ve never seen them here in Australia other than the stuff Moo found for us in South Australia, but I’ll keep a lookout for them. :)
Thank YOU Celia–the salt is great (the Citron OR the Black make novel glass-rim coatings for a Margarita btw) but finding your wonderful blog because I was Googling the salt was a REAL bonus. I look forward to reading and contributing often–and if anyone has any US or California-based questions (I’m in L.A., and used to be the West Coast Correspondent for the James Beard Newsletter in NY, wrote a restaurant column for L.A. Style magazine, and have ghosted/collaborated on many cookbooks and other projects involving food, wine, and travel) please feel free to use me as a resource. I love this blog and am sharing the URL with many friends here in the US. (waving across the Pacific)
Wow, thank you so much, Dan! That’s an amazing CV you have there! It’s very kind of you to read my ramblings.. :)
You’re quite welcome, and as for rambling–my post below shows you’re not the only one (smile.)
P.S. Maybe the folks who have the Black salt can get the others from their wholesalers if they ask. I have no idea how distribution of food works down there, but here it can be an interesting challenge to get certain products due to regional licenses, etc. etc. Here’s an interesting example fyi: In the South, there is a popular beverage known as “Sweet Tea” which is basically strong iced tea pre-sweetened using simple syrup. You could do it with any tea brand of course, but the one that is revered for this is called “Luzianne” because it is specially made to stand up to the dilution of ice cubes in iced tea and is very, very good basic tea. My wife lived in Georgia when I met her and is addicted to the stuff, but when she married me and moved to California, she found it impossible to get Luzianne because it is not officially distributed west of the Mississippi due to limited production and other considerations. We used to have her daughter in Georgia go to local stores and buy enough to fill a large parcel and ship it to us every month or two. Then Wal-Mart, the mega chain, opened a “Super Wal-Mart” near us at last (they were pretty late coming to the West Coast.) FYI, a “Super” is different from a regular Wal-Mart mostly because it not only is even bigger (and the regular ones are a marathon to walk around all by themselves, of course) but mostly because it carries more groceries and fresh meat, dairy, and produce to compete with local supermarket chains. Well, it turns out that because Wal-Mart, no matter where the store is located, is officially an Arkansas-based company (that’s where their headquarters is) they are allowed to ship things that they can get THERE to places where they are otherwise unavailable, and thus stock the beloved Luzianne here in the Los Angeles area when nobody else does. Problem solved. This strange legal/marketing situation extends in other areas too–for example that same Super Wal-Mart has a McDonald’s inside, but if all the local McD’s are advertising and selling a special menu item…it isn’t at the Wal-Mart branch because, once again, they are technically an Arkansas franchisee. Go figure. ANYHOW…some investigation should yield results there, and if not, I’d suggest going directly to the Falk folks and asking them to bring the whole line to Australia. After all, your blog postings have to have increased interest and demand, and they ARE all about selling more salt. Good luck, and I hope this extended treatise on food distribution (which got longer than I intended–sorry) helps or at least amuses.
Dan, that is really intriguing stuff. In Australia we have limitations on which foods can be shipped from state to state, but that usually only applies to fresh produce/seeds etc – for example, garlic from certain states can’t be sent to certain other ones etc. That’s mostly driven by quarantine and bio-security issues, and Tasmania, for example, being an island state, has very strict rules designed to govern items that might damage their agriculture.
There is a lot of stuff in the US that can’t be shipped to Australia because of international distribution agreements, and I was reading recently that many people now overcome those issues by using post forwarding companies in the States (who basically let customers use their US address for ordering, and then onforward to Australia). It’s amazing that working around distribution limitations has led to a whole new (legitimate) industry! :)
I’m glad your wife has found her tea – I know what it can be like to have a taste memory that can’t be fulfilled except with the original! :)